David Popovici became a double European champion today in Rome ©Getty Images

Romanian prodigy David Popovici followed on from breaking the men's 100 metres freestyle world record two days ago by securing his second gold of the European Aquatics Championships in the men's 200m freestyle, setting a new junior world record in Rome.

The 17-year-old continued to show his coming-of-age by beating the rest of the field by more than two seconds, touching the wall in 1min 42.97sec for gold.

In the process he broke the world junior, European junior and Championship records.

Antonio Djakovic from Switzerland took silver in 1:45.60 and Austrian Felix Auboeck was the bronze medallist in 1:45.89.

Popovici set a time of 46.86sec in the men's 100m freestyle previously on his way to gold.

Italy's only gold of the night went to Simona Quadrarella in the women's 1500m freestyle by an eight-second margin.

The clock stopped at 15:54.15, with teenager Viktoria Mihalyvari from Hungary claiming silver.

A further 10 seconds back, Martina Rita Caramignoli made it a second Italian on the podium in third place.

It was Quadrarella's eighth gold medal at the European Championships and her second in 2022 after the 800m freestyle.

She now turns to the 400m freestyle as she looks to win the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle titles at three consecutive Championships.

Simona Quadarella has won eight European titles now in just four years ©Getty Images
Simona Quadarella has won eight European titles now in just four years ©Getty Images

In the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, France's Maxime Grousset, Charles Rihoux, Charlotte Bonnet and Marie Wattel claimed gold in 3:22.80, holding off a strong British team of Tom Dean, Matthew Richards, Anna Hopkin and Freya Anderson by half-a-second.

Sweden's Björn Seeliger, Robin Hanson, Sarah Sjöström and Louise Hansson took bronze, just 0.1sec behind the Britons.

Louise Hansson had won the first final of the night, clocking a time of 56.66 in the women's 100m butterfly, followed in by joint-defending champion Marie Wattel of France and Lana Pudar from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Apostolos Christou from Greece took gold in the men's 50m backstroke final too, just touching the wall in front of home favourite Thomas Ceccon from Italy, with times of 24.36 and 24.40 respectively.

Ole Braunschweig from Germany was a pace behind for the bronze.

Finally, Switzerland's Lisa Mamié upgraded from her 2020 silver in the women's 200m breaststroke to take the 2022 title in a time of 2:23.27.

Martina Carraro from Italy and Kotryna Teterevkova from Lithuania completed the podium, far in front of the rest of the pool.